All This I Place
by behindmedipseternity
Summary: Rey is sold to the First Order, and ends up working for Kylo Ren himself. As much as she hates him, he senses the Force within her and offers to be her teacher.
1. Chapter 1

She almost missed it, initially.

Sliding down the belly of the old Star Destroyer, the rope held tightly in both hands and her eyes on her fast-approaching landing, the last thing Rey was looking for was the glint of the old lightsaber. The bottom was farther away then it seemed, and the rope pulled taut with another four or five meters of empty space to the floor.

She dangled in the dusty air. "Blasted rope", she muttered to herself, scanning the interior of the ship for a ledge, a landing spot, even a pile of garbage, anything which would soften her fall. Enough bones had been broken in her years as a scavenger, and Rey was in no great hurry to break any more. Even without broken bones the past few weeks had been strained, with the presence of the First Order troops creating an urgency at the trading post which was new and entirely too unsettling for her tastes.

Not that she had much to trade anyway. The First Order was reclaiming and gutting old ships, making it nearly impossible for even the best scavengers to reach their daily quotas. Food had been scarce, with Unkar Plutt being especially stingy with rations. Even Rey, who fancied herself an excellent scavenger, had gone hungry more days than she cared to think about.

A burning in her shoulders pulled her out of her thoughts. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.

No obvious ways to climb or jump down stood out to her. Sighing, Rey took a look around and closed her eyes, shutting out the dust which was speckled by the hot sun gleaming through the cracks in the hull of the ship. She blocked out the creaking of the metal and the rope, the sand shifting outside, and listened to her own breathing.

There had been times when she had almost heard voices, whispering where to go to find the best parts or which way to turn when she was hopelessly lost in the belly of an ancient cruiser. It seemed like that could be her best chance to make it out of the current situation. She stilled her breath, concentrating.

 _Rey._

Shocked, her eyes flew open as she noticed a strange glint by one wall. With that her concentration broke, right before the sensation of falling hit her. In that half second of lost focus, she had let go of the rope.

The fall was, surprisingly, not as bad as she had previously imagined. The landing was much worse. Rey felt the sting of cold metal as she hit the bottom of the shaft, then nothing more than darkness.

Nearly fifteen feet below the end of the wildly swinging rope lay the figure of the girl, sun-speckled and undernourished, crumpled where her fall had deposited her. She groaned, opening her eyes. She put her hand to her head, checking for blood. Nothing but her own sweat trickled over her palm, and with a grunt of relief she checked the rest of her body. Besides a probable concussion and a great deal of bruising, nothing seemed to be broken.

Offering a silent prayer of thanks to anyone who might be listening, Rey sat up slowly, pausing to take a sip of her water before attempting to stand. As she screwed the lid back on, she studied her surroundings. It shouldn't have been possible to walk away from a fifteen foot drop with only bruising, and yet here she was.

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and grabbed at a nearby shelf for support as she made the attempt to stand up.

That was a mistake. The shelf came crashing down around her, engulfing her in rusted metal and old equipment with a sound that probably could have been heard in Plutt's own house, back at the trading post.

Stunned, motionless beneath the ruins, she cursed herself. "Idiot, what did you think was going to happen?" In her daze she had almost forgotten the state of disrepair the Star Destroyer was in, and had nearly killed herself twice in less than five minutes.

The weight of the metal digging in between her ribs and on her legs hurt, and she begrudgingly began to work her way out of it. Shoving aside a metal spike (she could have been _impaled_ ), Rey made a grab for her fallen gear through the wreckage. However, her fingertips brushed something else entirely.

The metal was cool and smooth beneath her skin, a contrast to the torn metal shelves which had toppled down on her. Frowning, she pulled it out from under the remains.

It looked oddly familiar. Something tugged at the back of her memory and then she grasped it. A lightsaber. A relic of the late Jedi order, which she had only imagined in dreams. Rey was never quite sure that the Jedi had even existed. With the galaxy so torn by war, how could peace have ever lasted? But the cylinder fit into her hand as if it had been made for her, the design simple yet elegant. The weapon of a more civilized age. She stared at it as if in a trance, and slowly, hardly realizing what she was doing, ignited it.

 _Rey. Fulfill your destiny._

The voice from earlier, speaking as if directly into her ear. She gasped and swung around wildly, expecting to see a face to put with the nameless voice. There was no one. She was alone.

Rey didn't know what she had expected, and as she extinguished the bright blue flame and turned the handle over in her hand she convinced herself that these voices in her head were nothing more than figments of her imagination, brought on by the concussion. The lightsaber, though, would feed her for a week.

Her stomach growled at the thought, and as she tucked it safely into her bag she dwelled no more on the strange voices in the ancient ship.


	2. Chapter 2

It took the better part of the afternoon to work her way out of the wrecked ship, and by the time she emerged into the heat of the desert, aching from her fall and covered in decades-old dirt, the sun was hanging low in the sky. She squinted up at the sun, trying to calculate the time while simultaneously reaching for her water bottle.

Draining the last few mouthfuls of her water, she broke out into an easy run across the sand, back toward the trading post.

During her many years as a scavenger, scrambling to and from the giant ships that littered Jakku, Rey had determined that a running pace was far preferable to walking the miles back to the trading post. It was faster, for one, and although she tried to pretend otherwise, she was always impatient to be back among the other scavengers at the trading post. There was enough loneliness back home, in a solitary room of a gutted old AT-AT. Scavenging was also a competitive business, and whatever kindness the older scavengers had shown to her as a girl was long gone. The faster she moved, the faster she could collect her rations, and the less likely she was to be caught by anyone unfriendly.

As she cut between two especially large sand dunes, Rey allowed her mind to wander back to the unusual events of the afternoon. The skin beneath her dirty tunic was already showing signs of heavy bruising, an unwelcome reminder of a fall which she should not have been able to walk away from. And then there was the matter of the lightsaber, and the voices which called out her name.

It couldn't have been chance. Rey had heard the stories from the merchants who passed through Plutt's trading post. Lightsabers were a fabled Jedi weapon, and after the fall of the Republic there were only a few left in existence. She mentally counted off the Jedi knights whom she remembered. _Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan…something, Darth Vader…_ Did he count? There were more, but their names eluded her. It had been years since she had heard the stories.

Her pace began to slow as the lights of the trading post came into view. In the amber light of the late afternoon, it almost looked peaceful, as if she truly were coming home. The thought fell out of her head as she got closer, close enough to make out the figures of stormtroopers guarding Plutt's home and patrolling the streets.

It was sickening.

Jakku was her prison in the shape of a planet, but it was still her home. And Rey did not take kindly to her home being invaded by intergalactic bullies. She squared her shoulders as she strode past the silent troopers, her head held high and eyes steadily looking straight ahead.

She arrived at Plutt's stall far to soon for her liking. In spite of their mutually beneficial work arrangement (mentally she pushed away the words _indentured servitude_ and _slavery_ ), he was far from her favorite person at the trading post. Called "The Blobfish" behind his back, he was a ruthless boss and generally unsavory character. And with the presence of the First Order troops on Jakku, his once meagerly supplied rations had dwindled to hardly nothing at all. Rey, despite being one of the best in her trade, was among those existing in debt to Plutt for extending portions despite nothing being scavenged.

The lightsaber could be her salvation, though. If she bargained well, it could not only get her out of debt but stocked with rations for another week or more.

In the swiftly darkening market fires were being lit, and the air cooled rapidly around the line of scavengers waiting hopefully for their evening portions. It slowly shortened, dwindling down to the last few stragglers. With each passing minute the line shortened, and the memory of holding the lightsaber burned Rey's resting hand as though she still held it. Suddenly the outside noise seemed to pause, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

 _Rey._ The voices were different this time. Urgent. _You must not give up the saber. You must learn to use it. Only then can you control your own destiny._

As quickly as they had come, the voices faded, and the ordinary noise resumed. She blinked, slowly, trying to process the events of the day. She needed to get rid of the lightsaber. Perhaps then things could return to normal. They might even be good for a while.

It was finally her turn at the stall. Plutt turned to her, spittle dripping down his chins as he spoke.

"Ah, little Rey. Find something today?" he taunted, his foul breath washing over her. Rey grit her teeth but said nothing, casting her eyes toward her feet. "I've been disappointed with you" he growled.

Rey opened her mouth to defend herself, to prove him wrong, but stopped short as the words of a disembodied voice crept back into her mind. _Fulfill your destiny._ What was her destiny, anyway? Surely it couldn't be scavenging for the rest of her life, surviving on meager rations and the hope that the distant memory of abandonment and a promise of return would prove true.

Even as her stomach growled in protest, Rey made her decision. She was in control. The saber was hers. It had practically called to her in the ship, whatever that meant. And besides, Plutt needed her. She was his best scavenger, his largest moneymaker. Even he wasn't stupid enough to abandon her.

She turned her eyes back up to meet Plutt's watery grey ones. He leaned over the counter. "Do you have anything to give me?"

Biting her lip, Rey wished for a moment that the lightsaber had never come into her possession, and that she couldn't hear the voices whispering in her ear to leave this place and learn to use the weapon she now carried. But the moment passed, and she heard herself speaking.

"No. No, I still haven't found anything valuable."

Instead of the angry grimace she was expecting, Plutt broke out into a wide smile. "That's what I was hoping you'd say."

With a gesture almost too fast to be noticeable, he gestured for the two stormtroopers on either side of the hut, and they fell upon her with nearly inhuman speed. She screamed, struggling against them, but in seconds she was beaten and lying on the packed dirt in front of Plutt.

He stood over her, looking almost repentant, if that was possible. "You see, you've become a liability instead of an asset. I can't keep feeding the likes of you around here, hoping that you'd finally find something useful in those old wrecks." Here he cleared his throat. "I need my payday, and I'm getting it." He looked over at the troopers "She's all yours." With those last words he turned on his heel and lumbered away.

Rey screamed once more as she was dragged to her feet by the stormtroopers. "Please, someone, help me!" she cried, but the few passing people either didn't hear, didn't care, or were simply too frightened to look up. As she prepared to shout again, a warm and slightly damp rag was thrust over her mouth. Not thinking, she took a deep breath in, and for the third time that day, Rey crumpled, unconscious, into a heap.


	3. Chapter 3

_Blinding light and heat jolted Rey out of her unconsciousness. She looked around, finding herself on a desert planet much like her own. In the distance stood two men, one young and one solidly middle-aged, and a boy, and as she got closer she could make out voices._

 _"…teach him…strong with the Force…"_

 _The vision faded and was replaced by a burning funeral pyre, reflected in the light of the young man's blue eyes as he promised to teach the boy in his Master's stead._

 _Rey blinked and found herself in an unfamiliar room, watching the boy begin his training and grow into adulthood with his Master. It shifted over and over again, and she witnessed their missions, their failures and successes, their arguments and laughter._

 _There was a woman, in the later visions, with eyes kind but sad, who sometimes watched the Master and Apprentice along with Rey, and sometimes took part in the adventures. Rey saw her fall in love with the Apprentice, against all odds and council. She watched the Master pretend not to notice for the sake of his friends._

 _It shifted again, and the Apprentice had become a Knight, still serving with his oldest friend, driving away the clone armies of the slowly rising Empire. She watched his seduction to the dark side, felt his fear and his anger, and failed to notice the hot tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched the final battle between former brothers._

 _The vision faded to black, and Rey was aware of a pounding pain in her head, but the voices were not finished._

 _"Rey, you must bring balance. Learn from our failures. It is the only way."_

"Hey!" A different voice called to her through her dream.

She snapped to consciousness and sat up, wildly looking around for the source of the voice. Standing over her was a girl, no older than Rey herself, with huge dark eyes opened wide underneath a grey First Order pilot's hat.

She looked back toward the stormtroopers and opened her mouth as if to speak, but her eyes seemed to harden at the last moment. "Get up. I haven't got time to babysit some scavenger if she falls off the bench." The girl squinted at Rey, who looked back at her in shock. "It'll be my head on the chopping block if you get injured on my ship." She turned around and stalked back toward the front of the ship.

Rey eased herself off of the hard wooden bench, acutely aware of the deep aching within her joints from the beating she had taken earlier that day. As she stretched, trying to relieve herself of some of the pain, she felt her head throb, painfully.

It was going to be a long night.

Trying to distract herself from her aching head and body, she rotated slowly, studying the unfamiliar ship and trying to calm the rising panic she felt within herself.

She was on a fairly large cargo ship, either a late Imperial or First Order model. Grey walls and floor, low ceiling. No windows, and only one small light toward the front of the room. Two long benches lined either side, narrow and constructed of some kind of hard black wood. Aside from the stormtroopers standing idly near the cockpit, it seemed deserted. Looking around the bleak interior, Rey wondered where they were going. And, more importantly, what the cargo was. What was her place in all this mess?

Suddenly a flashing red light shone into the gloom, and a metallic voice came over the loudspeaker. "COMMENCING LANDING SEQUENCE. ALL PRISONERS FILE TO THE REAR OF THE SPACECRAFT."

Around her, the walls began to move. Tired, mournful faces looked at Rey from all sides of the ship as women and girls peeled themselves away from the safety of the dark walls and into the middle of the ship. Horrified, Rey recognized a few of them in their sandy rags as fellow scavengers from Jakku. She was on a First Order slaving ship.

Head throbbing and panic blossoming in her chest, she fought against the tide of women, trying to find a way off the ship. She had heard the stories. Even death would be better than working for as cruel a master as the First Order. Backing up away from the ship door, she felt herself bump into something soft. Turning around quickly, she saw that it was the pilot from earlier, who in turn angrily shoved Rey into the throngs of women.

The bay door opened with a hiss and a squeal to reveal a blinding light, and the women were herded off the ship into a nightmare.

Seven hallways, 22 doors, 3 droids, 124 stormtroopers…or was it 125? Did it matter? She counted out of an old habit learned on Jakku, on the prayer that maybe remembering their turns could help her escape from this base. Or whatever it was. It certainly didn't look like any base she had ever heard of. It didn't look much like the inside of the old Star Destroyers on Jakku, either. Things seemed richer. Grander, almost. Wide hallways, silver decorations over doorways, and even the occasional window looking out at a very real, solid planet. At least they weren't floating somewhere in space.

They passed into another hallway. This was eight…maybe nine. Things were starting too all look the same. The group had taken two rights and a left. And another left. Or a right? Rey's head throbbed with each moment, getting stronger the longer they walked.

It seemed like hours later when the frightened women and girls were herded into a large, bright room and locked in. Finally alone, left to their own devices (however temporarily), whispers began to float around the room.

"Where are we?"

"What's going on?"

"Do you see that girl, in the corner? They brought her aboard unconscious…"

"I heard she cheated Plutt and he sent her here as punishment."

"She's hear for the same reason we are! Couldn't do her job. If you can't scavenge, if you have nothing to give the boss, you're nothing."

Rey cringed away from them, turning to face the wall so that no one could see the hot tears beginning to drip down her face. She clutched her bag to her chest, hating herself, hating Plutt, hating the lightsaber for ever calling to her and getting her into this mess. In her misery, she scarcely noticed the whispers still as one voice rang out above the others.

"I was standing close enough to see them put her down. She called out a name in her sleep, to someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi." There was a flurry of motion at the mention of the fabled Jedi knight. "Whoever he was, however important he really was, his name got those troopers pretty upset. They wouldn't even touch her. They made that pilot wake her up."

Turning around, Rey felt the stares of thirty women greet her as she stood before them, just as lost and confused as they were. The speaker, a small woman with glinting eyes, opened her mouth to speak right as the door was unlocked. Another guard stood menacingly in the doorway, his gun dark against his white armor.

"You will follow me."

 **Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, commented, and read my story so far! I'm so happy that this has gotten such positive feedback, and I hope you all continue to enjoy it! Please comment to tell me what you like, what you think I should be doing better, or even just what you think should happen next (although I have quite a few ideas of my own) :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Another shipment of prisoners.

The Knight sighed in annoyance. Having barely glanced at the paperwork Hux had thrust at him earlier that day, he was painfully unaware of all but the most basic statistics of this new load of women. Their arrival had nearly (but not quite) caught him off guard, something which Hux (had he known) would never let him live down.

Kylo Ren shifted uncomfortably in his place at the front of the room, conscious of the hair falling in his eyes underneath his dark helmet, and the sweat pooling beneath his heavy robes. It was customary for the Knights to welcome, as well as indoctrinate, the new slaves in place of Snoke himself, who was considered simply too important and busy to bother with such trivial matters.

Feeling a burst of anger blossom in his breast, Kylo straightened against the wall. Surely _he_ , the leader of the Knights of Ren, was also above such things. Hux was better suited to management, if Kylo was being honest with himself, and as much as he hated to admit it, cleverly skilled at persuading people to follow him. Charisma was a talent he himself had never found much use for. It wasn't necessary when merely a gesture towards his lightsaber had people groveling at his feet.

 _Why was this taking so long?_ It was starting to truly aggravate him, to be forced to wait for these nobodies – these slaves from an uncivilized planet in the Outer Rim. It should have been quick and easy, to strip them of their possessions and dirty clothing, to get them through the initial programming because _clearly_ there were certain people whose time could be used for more important things.

The rear door hissed open, and he was ushered out of his brooding by the sharp clacking of boots on the polished metal floor.

"Sir." Kylo straightened and turned to face the blank white mask. "General Hux sends his apologies at the unanticipated delay," the trooper said, "although it was unavoidable due to…" He cleared his throat. "Hysterics."

Kylo, anticipating any manner of excuses Hux may have given for the inexcusable waste of his time, found himself taken aback by the choice of words. _Hysterics. There's a new one. He must be finally running out of excuses._

The stormtrooper had taken advantage of his momentary distraction, quickly clicking away to disappear into the anonymous ranks once more. Kylo was left with a brief moment of contemplation on what Hux could have possibly meant, when the main doors hissed opened and all hell broke loose.

The first thing Kylo registered hearing was blaster fire. The second was the unmistakable whine of a lightsaber. Hardly a second after those initial thoughts he found himself dodging out of the way of a rogue laser beam, landing hard on the smooth floor.

Out of the narrow eye-slit in his helmet he surveyed the battle before him from the momentary safety of floor. Through the smoky air he could make out the white figures of stormtroopers, shooting at a single figure in the middle of the room.

His mind raced as he stood up, sidestepping another blast from a laser. _Where did a prisoner from Jakku get a lightsaber? She obviously isn't a Jedi. There are no more Jedi._ A stormtrooper fell in front of her, lost to the haphazard swings of an unpracticed but deadly hand. _I always have to clean up Hux's messes._ Kylo sighed, reaching for his saber.

 _And to think Hux called these hysterics._

His saber held loosely in one hand, he began to walk into the fray, his other hand stretched out toward the skirmish in front of him.

The scene froze.

He continued to walk through the haze of blaster smoke, stepping over the injured and dead on his march toward the center of the room. The figure was no woman, and certainly no Jedi. She couldn't be over 20 years old, and certainly shouldn't be able to injure, much less kill a highly trained stormtrooper.

She grimaced as he approached, visibly trying to break the hold he had over her. The lightsaber blazed like blue fire in her hand, humming slightly. It looked familiar.

Almost unconsciously he ignited his own lightsaber, the sparking red whining where it slid along the motionless blue. Kylo cocked his head at the girl, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Who are you?" His artificial voice rumbled through the mask. She shook slightly as if trying to move. "How did you – a scavenger – find something which clearly belongs to one of your betters?" Kylo couldn't keep the contempt from dripping through his voice. The Jedi were foolish and weak, but still far superior to non Force-users.

Glancing around the silent room, he took another step forward, his saber dangerously close to her neck. Her eyes were closed, brows knit together as if in deep concentration, tears silently streaming down her dirty face and dripping onto her tattered robes.

"I could kill you now if I wanted to," he whispered softly. Intimately. "But you – you're just a prisoner here. You're nothing. You aren't worth the blood which would spill from your body."

The girl's eyes flew open and slowly, painfully, she wrenched her head from his grasp and turned her eyes upon him. "I –" she gasped, "will never be – your prisoner." Although her voice shook, her eyes remained steady, burning holes into the mask he wore.

A quick motion from him and she was lying crumpled in a heap on the floor. He looked down, breathing heavily, shaking from the encounter. The lightsaber lay innocently on the floor between them.

 _That shouldn't have been possible._

Moments later the doors behind him opened, more soldiers pouring in. His hold on the room cracked, allowing the troopers around him to regain motion and control over themselves. Kylo turned toward the doors to see Hux looking at him in distain.

"I see you can certainly handle a crisis" the man sneered, looking at the carnage in distain.

His next words never came. Kylo strode past him as he lay quivering against the far wall, stunned after being tossed into it.

"Maybe you should learn the definition of hysterics" he muttered under his breath.

Hours later, in the darkness of his own room, even after hours of training and meetings, Kylo Ren couldn't seem to shake the vision of wide hazel eyes staring into his soul.

 **Sorry about the long wait on this one. This chapter took a long time to start, and I'm still not sure I'm happy with it. Oh well. Also, the semester has started up again, so updating may get a little less frequent. I do want to thank you for all the support! I never expected this to get the reception it did, and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.**


	5. Chapter 5

Rey's head pounded. In less than two days she had fallen fifteen feet down a star destroyer's belly, been nearly crushed by a rusty shelf, had been sold into slavery, and (possibly most humiliatingly) was knocked out by some sort of creature hiding its face behind a mask while trying to stage a mutiny.

Now, lying in a dark cell somewhere in the First Order base on an unknown planet, she realized that for the first time in years, she was truly alone. There had always been someone before, whether it was the other junkers or even Unkar Plutt, as despicable as he was. Even at her loneliest, there were always people not far away. Here, though, she was completely and utterly on her own.

She turned over, desperately trying to slip back into unconsciousness. Sleep remained elusive, though, and with a long sigh she sat up and squinted at her surroundings.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Rey was blinded by the white lights starkly outlining the small cell she sat in. The brightness was an affront on her senses, and stabbed at her eyes through her lids which she had quickly closed.

Mumbling to herself, she slowly eased her eyes back open, allowing herself to adjust to the room. It was nearly bare, a small square of darkly reflective metal, the light bouncing off the ceiling and walls. Here, against one wall, was the bunk she had been laying on. It was barely large enough for her, and Rey wondered how other, larger prisoners fared in the tiny space.

Against the opposite wall stood a small chair next to a shallow sink. Another wall was nearly open, except for the thick black bars which kept her a prisoner.

Rey gritted her teeth. She had been stupid. No, more than that. She had been angry, and had allowed fear to get the better of her. Part of her knew there had been no hope of escape, but she would rather have died trying to fight her way out of the base than be subjugated to whatever horrors the First Order did to its slaves. There was no way of knowing how little time she had until they had arrived at the large doors. She couldn't have had any idea what was waiting for her behind them, either.

 _Kylo Ren_. The name left a sour taste in her mouth. She never thought he was real, until she saw him in person in the middle of the battle. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure he was a person. Who knows what could be hiding behind that mask of his? She shuddered. If his face matched his personality, he must be hideous.

"I'm flattered to find you thinking of me," came a familiar voice. She whipped her head around, then groaned as the room spun far longer than it should have. In spite of her anger, fear, and pain, she willed herself to look up at the dark figure in the doorway.

"You."

He tilted his head at her. "Me."

Rey felt the anger rising in her as she stared at the passively blank mask in front of her. "What do you want from me?" It was a struggle to keep her voice calm.

He continued to stare at her, silent.

Suddenly the chair flew across the cell and splintered directly in front of the open wall of the cell, dark wooden pieces ricocheting off of the bars and the silent man in front of them. Rey let out a scream, her face blotchy, and abruptly sat back down onto the bed, facing the back (and mercifully blank) wall.

An unfamiliar noise made her start, ears pricking up toward the dark figure.

Laughter. The bastard was actually laughing at her. He saw her anger, and her pain, and he _dared_ to laugh? She turned around again to face him, to make him leave or at least explain himself, but stopped short at the sight in front of her.

Ren was standing inside her cell with her. She had no idea how he managed to be so quiet, especially being so incredibly large, and how he had gotten through the bars without any discernable keys or unlocking mechanisms.

"There are ways to enter rooms without touching the doors, scavenger." His metallic voice once again dripped with distain. "Surely even you, on that wasteland of a planet, must have heard about about the Force." He paused, seemingly considering her wide eyes and heavy breathing. "Do you sense it within yourself? Have you felt it?"

Rey let out her breath in a slow hiss, leaning away from the dark and imposing figure looming over her.

He continued, pacing around the small room. "Are you going to talk voluntarily or do I need to pry it from your mind?" Again he stopped in front of her, a menacing figure swathed in dark fabric.

In his helmet Rey saw her own face reflected, pale and fearful. She opened her mouth, wetting her cracked lips and willing herself to stare directly back at the monster in front of her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She could almost imagine a cruel and inhuman smile underneath the mask he wore. "This is going to hurt."

"I'm not afraid of you."

Kylo Ren raised his hand in front of her and she was once again rendered immobile, and was forced down on to the narrow bunk. Her headed pounded in rhythm with her heartbeat, getting stronger as his hand crept closer and closer to her forehead.

Leather touched sweating skin. Rey screamed.

Pain. White-hot and blinding, charring the edges of her consciousness. She could feel him probing her mind, seeing everything. A sliver of thought raced across her anguished brain.

NO.

Some things are not meant to be taken. Some things are not meant to be seen.

Rey gathered everything left of herself, everything untainted by his presence, and pushed back.

She opened her streaming eyes to the brightness of her cell, staring back at the impassive mask in front of her. The hand on her forehead shook slightly, as if startled.

"Get out – of – my – head."

With the last word she gathered up his darkness, his fire, his pain, and thrust it back into him.

 _A dark haired boy runs through an unfamiliar hallway._

 _He runs from the voices in his head._

 _A young woman looks on as she watches a man fly away again in his ship._

 _The boy cries at night. The voices are getting louder. His mother isn't there to banish them._

 _A broken bone of a bully._

 _Saying goodbye to the man and woman, standing in an unfamiliar forest._

 _Other children. Never being good enough. Never being included._

 _The voices are his allies._

 _Peace is a lie._

 _The scent of burning flesh fills the air._

 _There is only passion._

 _He looks down at himself, pale in the light of the fire, hands dripping in the blood of his classmates. If he can't belong anywhere else, he will belong here._

"STOP."

The clouding darkness finally left Rey's mind, and she found herself back in the cell, staring at the retreating figure of Kylo Ren.

She opened her mouth. "You."

His hooded figure against the wall didn't move.

She pressed on. "You're afraid. That you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader." At her words, the metal bars on the cell crunched inward on themselves, bending and breaking as if they were no more than children's toys.

Rey forced her gaze not to waver, as Ren turned slowly to face her once more. Opening her mouth, about to speak, she was cut off by a rough hand underneath her arm.

"Wait! Where are you taking me?" Rey asked in shock as he hauled her to her feet and through the wreckage of the cell door.

He gave no answer, not as they rushed through nearly silent halls, nor brushed passed dozens of doors. His silence, after everything which had just occurred between them in her cell, scared her more than his brutal mind reading.

They entered an elevator, and in the silence of its walls she dared to speak again. "Please, just tell me where we're going."

He turned to look at her for the first time since they left her cell.

"I need answers. I am taking you to my master."

The doors opened.

 **This semester is a busy one, but I'm really hoping to start updating more frequently! I'm super excited as to where this story is going. Also, in response to a question about the title of this story, it does come from the rune in Madeline L'Engle's book A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes history and science fiction.**


	6. Chapter 6

He had panicked.

The minute she had looked at him with those wide eyes, he had cracked. He had let his guard down. He, the Jedi-Killer, the infamous Kylo Ren of the first order, had _let his guard down_ as soon as a puny scavenger had prodded back at his mind.

He was no stranger to Force users, but this was different. She shouldn't have had the strength to withstand his presence in her head, much less thrust herself back into his. It shouldn't have been possible, and yet…

There had been a stirring in the Force. He and his master had felt it, only a few days ago. Could this girl – this nobody from Jakku – be the awakening he had felt? Surely there must be another explanation. Perhaps a more impressive one, with a more imposing form and cleaner hair.

He glanced down at her, ushering her roughly around a nearby droid and onto a waiting elevator.

Her face was set, eyebrows ever so slightly furrowed, her feet set apart as though she was expecting an attack. Kylo wanted to reassure her, to ask her who she was, to understand what was happening, but he silenced himself.

His master would tell him what to do. It was always easier that way. He had learned a long time ago how much pain came with making his own decisions.

The elevator jolted to a stop, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Kylo skimmed the surface of her thoughts, sensing her fear, her loathing, and her slight curiosity, buried far deeper than the other emotions. He remembered the feeling, remembered being so afraid of himself and his powers. Taking her arm again, he ushered her out of the elevator and into the waiting chamber a little gentler than he had pulled her earlier.

The chamber was as cavernous as it had always been, with the deep red of the walls and ceiling contrasting with the shining black floor in a stark reminder of the power and influence of the First Order. Around the perimeter, standing as still and as silently as statues, were the Praetorian Guards, the red of their armor blending in almost perfectly with the walls. One could almost forget they were there. Almost.

Rising in the center of the room was Snoke's throne. Kylo felt Rey stiffen next to him, could feel her heart begin to beat faster as her fear began to get the better of her. Beneath his mask he grimaced, knowing the depth of the pain which was in store for her. Pain was the one constant through all of his years of training under Snoke. Perhaps this hadn't been the best plan. Maybe he should have tried to figure it out for himself first.

It was too late to turn back now, though.

They had quickly crossed the great expanse of the room and were nearing the chair upon which sat the figure of Supreme Leader Snoke himself. His head was bent in front of his body, his arms folded across his body.

"Kylo Ren. Master of the Knights of Ren. Prince of Darkness." The voice was low, menacing. "I do not remember requesting an audience with you."

Snoke looked up for the first time, eyes flitting over Kylo and settling on the girl, whose features were contorted in a grimace that almost matched the puckering of the Supreme Leader's face.

The Supreme Leader narrowed his eyes as he scanned the girl in front of him, then began to chuckle in low, rasping gasps.

"Ah yes. I understand quite well now." He beckoned for the girl. "Come closer, child."

She took a step backwards, nearly frozen in fear, but bumped against something solid. The gloved hands of Kylo Ren were smoothly shoving her toward the man (creature?) on the throne in front of her.

Hesitantly, the girl stepped toward Snoke. Kylo could feel the hesitation in her every step, the reluctance to approach the throne. _Don't resist and it won't hurt as much. Just let him do whatever he wants to you. It'll be over soon._ Almost as if she heard his thoughts, her back straightened.

"You have troubled my apprentice, child." Snoke's voice was almost gentle, as though he was speaking to a frightened animal. "He believes you have certain abilities which could…set you apart from other people." She stopped walking, her face riddled with anxiety and fear, still a few meters from his pedestal. Snoke glanced down at her again, annoyance rippling across his face.

"I said come HERE."

With a flick of his wrist she skidded toward him, stopping directly in front of his feet. He smiled, watching the fear behind her eyes begin to grow.

"You will do wise to learn to listen to your superiors, _girl_." With a malicious grin, Snoke pushed Rey into the air, leaving her hanging with a taut body and a scream twisting her features. Kylo flinched behind his mask as he watched Snoke torture the scavenger.

With a last flick of his wrist, the Supreme Leader flung the girl into the nearest wall, leaving her crumpled and bloody on the ground. Kylo found himself standing, instincts screaming at him to rush toward her, with only memories of years of torture at the hands of Snoke keeping him grounded in one position.

"Supreme Leader –" he started, gesturing toward her broken body.

A thundering voice cut him off. "SILENCE, Ren. I will deal with you soon enough." Snoke stood, pointing at the two nearest stormtroopers. "Take the girl to the medical bay, and then see that she is placed in the TR division. I do not foresee any more trouble from her."

As the troopers lumbered away, the unconscious young woman between them, Snoke beckoned for Kylo to approach his throne. Hesitantly, fearful after watching the girl's torture at the whim of the Supreme Leader, he stepped toward his master.

"Master, please, forgive me, I thought only to – "

Snoke waved away his groveling with a withered hand, as he sat back down on his dark throne.

"My apprentice," he started, his voice almost grandfatherly. Kylo felt himself relax at the tone. "You are still very young, and certainly impressionable. It is only understandable that a pretty face could put you in such a state."

Kylo felt himself flush, and was once again glad for the dark helmet which concealed his features. Surely, there had been more than just her face? She was special, he knew it. Somehow.

Snoke continued, his voice soft and soothing. "She is nothing to trouble yourself about, my apprentice. She is of no use to us. Forget her. She is nothing." Kylo found himself nodding along. The Supreme Leader was wise. The girl was not important.

"You are wise, Master. The girl is nothing."

Snoke smiled, like his favorite dog had just performed a new trick. "Excellent. Now, go." Kylo hesitated, something nagging the back of his mind. His master grew more insistent, his voice more soothing. "Leave me. I grow tired."

Almost automatically, Kylo turned and began walking toward the elevator door, feeling strangely empty inside. It wasn't unfamiliar, nor was it unpleasant. As the doors shut behind him, he could hear the low chuckle of his master's voice echoing through the room.

He couldn't seem to remember the joke.

He hoped it wasn't important.

 **I'm sorry this took so long! This chapter was super annoying to write...but I hope you enjoy it! Things will start to get interesting in the next chapter (I hope).**


	7. Chapter 7

"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep."

"Five more minutes," Rey mumbled, rolling over and adjusting her pillow. "It's still dark outside. I won't be able to see anything…" She trailed off, falling back into her dream.

 _I wish my bed was this soft at home…_

Wait.

An iron fist clamped over her heart as she remembered the events of the last few days, abruptly shaking her from sleep. The lightsaber, being sold to the First Order, her disastrous escape attempt, the throne room, the twisted face of Snoke. _Kylo Ren_. Just thinking his name gave her chills, and she clutched the blanket closer to her.

 _Maybe if I keep my eyes closed this will all just be a nightmare. I'll wake up and be back home on Jakku, with Plutt and the other scavengers. None of it is real._

Even as she thought it, she knew it was useless. And, if she was being honest with herself, a small part of her was glad of the challenge she now faced. It had to be better here than trading scraps on Jakku. If only there was some way to ensure that her family wouldn't come back for her while she was gone.

Rey sighed. She knew she couldn't hide in this bed forever. And the beeping was really starting to get on her nerves. She opened her eyes.

The room was a small one, barely bigger than the cell she was kept in earlier. It was clearly in a medical wing of some sort, the walls and floor a sterile, dull grey. The only furniture was the narrow bed on which she was currently lying, and a bulky monitor next to her, which continued to beep steadily. A long, clear tube ran from her left arm to an IV bag supplying her body with nutrients and fluid. Near one side of the room was a chair, bolted to the ground. Apparently someone mentioned to the medical staff what happened to unsecured chairs in her presence.

Gingerly, Rey sat up, feeling herself over for the bruising and cuts from fights and falls of the last few days. To her amazement, she was completely healed, her skin smooth and unbroken. As a matter of fact, she felt better than she had in years, like she had finally gotten a good night of sleep after years of insomnia. With all thoughts of Kylo Ren behind her for the time being, she swung her legs over the edge of the bunk, slowly releasing herself from the IV and the blankets surrounding her.

As her feet hit the polished floor and the IV tube swung away from her arm, the monitor next to her began to beep more insistently, getting louder with every passing second.

Rey looked around frantically trying to quiet the machine before someone came to find the source of the noise. "Shhhh, shhhh," she hissed at the monitor. "Just shut _up_ before you get me in trouble again." She lowered herself to the floor beside it, fingers already busy at work on the closed panels below the screen.

"Well, this looks a lot like the old Star Destroyer control panels on Jakku," she murmured "so if I can just pry this bit up..." The shining metal began to bend under her fingers. "It should…" she grunted at the monitor "pop right off!"

With a loud _clang_ the panel fell from the base, screws and washers flying everywhere. The symphony of cacophony was completed by the increased and more insistent chirping of the protesting machine. It was like the room was screaming at her.

There went her plans of remaining under the radar.

How much time did she have? Two minutes? Three? Would someone take her back to that tiny cell? Would she be knocked out again? Would they take her back to Snoke?

Her breathing was coming out in short gasps, the room suddenly impossibly small.

 _Control yourself, Rey. You cannot change the past, but you can avoid making the same mistakes._

How? It's too loud in here. It's too small. I can't think.

 _Breathe, child._

Breathe. She could do that.

Rey closed her eyes, letting her consciousness drift away from her tired body. She counted to ten over and over, letting the rhythm of the numbers soothe her.

Mistakes… what had she done wrong? Her mind flitted over the last few days, the disasters and betrayals which lead to this very moment. What connected them all? She remembered fighting both Plutt and the stormtroopers, and the strength her anger had given her. She remembered tasting the fear in Kylo Ren, and enjoying it.

 _Not anger, Rey. To act in fear or anger is not our way. You must learn to control your emotions, or you are lost._

Rey blinked, sitting up.

 _Idiot_ , she thought to herself. _Screw the damned plate back on._

Taking a dive under the narrow bed, she began collecting the various hardware scattered around the room.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

From under the bed, she froze, listening.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

Footsteps, in the hallway. Frantically, Rey shuffled out from under the bed and raced to place the cover back onto the machine, trying to ignore the increase of her heartbeat and the monitor's beeping.

Click.

Two screws left.

Click.

Her fumbling fingers shook as she screwed in the last one.

Click.

She jumped into the bed, trying to smooth her mussed hair.

The door swung open, mere seconds after Rey had thrown the blanket over herself and closed her eyes. Surrounded by its sterile warmth, engulfed in darkness, she tried to control her erratic breathing.

She tried to think through the scenario in her head, still hoping to find a way out without being tortured or imprisoned again. Two sets of footsteps had approached, and both were standing silently by the open (she assumed) door. Were they waiting for something?

It was a few long moments before one of them spoke. Rey could almost swear they were listening to the sound of her heart, it was beating so loudly.

"That's the girl?" The man's voice was mechanic. A stormtrooper. "Little thing, isn't she? You'd think she was seven feet tall from the stories they're telling about her."

 _Stories? That couldn't be good._

The other person, a woman, spoke in a softer tone. Rey mentally tried to put a face with the new voice. "She came in with nearly half her ribs broken." There was a short pause. "They wouldn't say what happened, only that she was to be treated immediately and sent to work."

Rey supposed that explains the intensity of the pain.

The trooper spoke again. "I'll be waking her up now, to take her into interrogation."

Almost immediately, the woman answered, her voice louder and more commanding.

"You will do no such thing! The girl is my charge, and until I am satisfied with her recovery you will simply have to find some other poor soul to torture."

"Captain, I – "

"What part of no have you misunderstood?" Rey could almost feel the annoyance radiating off of the woman. "I am perfectly capable of attending to her. She has been brutally beaten and what she needs now is rest and food. _I_ will be attending to her, understood?"

Another pause.

"Yes." She hadn't known it was possible for a stormtrooper to sound so meek.

There were footsteps, and then the door closed, leaving Rey and the unknown woman alone in her tiny room.

"Alright, love, he's gone. You can sit up now."

Opening her eyes in shock, Rey saw a short, middle-aged woman peering at her through a thick pair of glasses. She wore the light grey of a medical officer, a color which very nearly matched the wisps of hair poking out from under her hat.

Rey opened her mouth, then closed it again. The woman looked at her kindly, then moved to the monitor, her fingers tapping lightly on the controls. The beeping finally stopped, replaced with a low hum.

"I'm sure you have plenty of questions, but we'll do a bit of a check-up on you first." The woman turned around to face Rey again. "Stand up, arms at your side." Seeing the hesitation on the younger woman's face, she added, "I won't hurt you."

Forcing herself to stand, questions running through her mind, Rey stiffly did as the woman instructed. She opened her mouth again, trying to formulate the right sentence. "I'm sorry, I – I wasn't expecting you – "

The woman laughed, dark eyes sparkling behind her spectacles. "Not all of us wear the helmet, you know. Turn around." Her hands quickly traced the outline of Rey's spine and ribs, then gently prodded her shoulders. "I must say, it's nice to finally meet you. Conversing is nicer than watching a person sleep." She twisted Rey's head back and forth, testing the function of her neck. "I am Captain Asou, head of the health ward in this particular quadrant."

"How long have I been here?"

The Captain sighed, her fingers hesitating. "About ten rotations. You were awfully broken when they brought you in here. I wasn't sure you'd make it, little thing that you are."

Rey must have stiffened, because Asou gently pat her back as she sat her back down on the bed. The woman continued. "They wouldn't say anything about what happened. But, the Supreme Leader himself sent word that I was to treat you myself, and that no harm was to come to you." She gingerly sat down as well, smoothing the rumpled bedclothes.

It was a lot to take in at once. Rey could remember the crunching of her bones and the taste of blood in her mouth, and the thought that Snoke wanted to heal her seemed preposterous.

"Why me?"

Another gentle pat on her shoulder. "I've learned not to ask questions, love."

Captain Asou pulled Rey to her feet, giving her one last concerned glance before snapping back into business mode. "It seems that there's nothing more I can do for you here." She briskly walked toward the door, shoes tapping on the smooth surface. "I'll walk you to your new chambers."

"I can't stay here?" Rey tried to keep her voice from cracking. She choked instead.

"Keeping you here for as long as I did was pushing the patience of the Supreme Leader, but I can take you to your room. You'll be safe there." When Rey hesitated, she stretched out a hand. "I can't wait forever, though."

With a heavy sigh, Rey took the arm offered to her and stepped out of the doorway. Outside her tiny room, the halls seemed cavernous and dark, bringing back memories of pain and two dark, beady eyes staring at her out of a malformed skull.

"Come along, it's not far."

Two rights. A long hallway, and then a left before the metal stairs. Everything looked the same, and it must have been in the middle of the night on the base, as they saw few other people on the short walk. Finally, they walked down another hallway with identical black doors lining both sides. Metal plates in front of them listed two letters and four numbers: TN 0779, TN 0780, TN 0781…

Finally, they stopped in front of a door labelled TN 0812.

"There's been a chip implanted into your wrist. You can use that to open your door." Instructed Asou, pulling up Rey's sleeve to show her the small lump on her left forearm. "This will give you access to the common areas on the base, as well as wherever you've been assigned."

"Where have I been assigned?" she asked as the doorway slid open.

The older woman looked up at her briefly, eyes showing… Was that pity?

"The TN numbers are the throne room servants. You'll be a personal attendant to the Supreme Leader and the Knights of Ren." She shoved Rey into her room. "There will be more information in the morning. Try to get some sleep, TN 0812."

With those final words she was gone, the heavy door clanging shut, drowning out Rey's last words.

"That's not my name."

It would be a long time before she slept that night.

 **Hello! Sorry for the long absence. School has been...difficult, and this has been sort of put aside. I'll get another update out as soon as I can, but until then I hope you enjoy this one!**


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